Topic on Ohio’s Foreclosure Intervention

2013 Political Science 3310

Professor Daniel Sabolsky

Report by: Beth Schoren

OUTLINE

1. There is a mortgage assistance program in Ohio for people behind in payments.

A. Learn about where the money originated from.

B. Learn why the money has been set aside to help with mortgages.

C. Understand that help is limited in time and the money available for each family to benefit from is also limited.

D. Understand that what is happening is a law that was enacted for persons in housing trouble, so don’t hesitate to ask for help and don’t be

afraid.

2. Carefully follow all the instructions you are given and always get the requested documents to the person in charge of helping you right away, without delay.

A. You will be required to have very many documents on the property, insurance, utilities, other expenses and your family income.

B. You will be required to attend a counseling session at an assigned location, which may or may not be close to you.

C. At anytime you can scan documents and email them the faster the process of getting things done. Do so only after talking to your

Counselor.

Do you remember the big recession in the United States in 2008? People left

and right were losing their $30.00 an hour jobs all over the country. Their homes were

also losing value (by an average of 20%) so their mortgages were more than they could

sell their homes for, which is called “underwater”.

Well I remember, because it affected even people in Sandusky. People were

living out of hotels because they had lost their homes and even their cars. Some chose

to speak out through means of mercy killings in order to get attention. There were at

least 2 couples in Sandusky that I remember because I was working at Staples when

one man killed his wife and then himself at Lowes. This spoke loud and clear to me.

Well President Obama got a joint federal landmark suit against 5 of the largest

banks who were foreclosing on over 4 million homeowners across the country in the

fastest manner and also by usages of fraud. This settlement amounted to $25 billion.

He used the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which has been amended

from time to time, and this fund was the 8th Amendment to it.

The Government took $7.6 billion from the monies to allocate to “The Hardest Hit

Fund” and on February 19th, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada this bill was re-introduced and

signed by President Obama that started a program for “The Hardest Hit Fund”. There

were a total of 18 states plus the District of Columbia considered involved as most

damaged by the situation.

This money was turned over to the US Department of the Treasury to control by

use of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which lends monies for many

programs. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD works

together with the Treasury with each state involved and Ohio is one of them.

Each state involved, has a Housing Finance Agency (HFA) which has an

Innovation Fund that allocates these funds. They must submit reports to the Treasury

for funds and at the current 2013 report places California hardest hit and Florida coming

in a close second. From these current reports, from all states involved, the largest

population of applicants (83% of the 311,000 applicants) made less than $50,000 per

year.

So if you know anyone who could use the help get them to a HUD Approved

Counseling Agency like savethedream.ohio.gov which helps with foreclosure

prevention. Or homeownershio.org which is a non-profit government mortgage relief

program that determines eligibility. The closest local office available is in Elyria. They

are called Lorain County Urban League. They can be reached at 440-323-3364 ext. 31.

There is a long list of qualification papers that you will have to provide. Such as

a mortgage statement, paystubs, utilities, bank statements, tax returns, credit card and

savings balances, etc. You can also download off the site application.

Each Qualified applicant is granted up to $35,000 for mortgage and property tax

assistance. When someone gets approved they have to sign several documents which

your Housing Counselor scans and sends onward for funds to be paid to lenders.

These documents are not for the faint of heart because there are stipulations

which you are bound by upon signing. I know because I just received the benefit of this

program. You need to understand that you are actually signing another mortgage but

instead of a lending company it is the government. By doing so you are agreeing to the

following:

You are agreeing to make the residence your primary residence for the amount

of no less than 5 years or you must repay the loan.

You may not sell the home for 5 years otherwise you must repay the loan..

You may not refinance the home for the same period or you must pay the loan

back.

The 5 years can be shortened if December 2017 comes about prior to the 5

years, which has been set up for all the monies to end.

References for Topic on Ohio Foreclosure Measures

By: Beth Schoren

http://www.lcul.org/our-programs/housing/

http://www.savethedream.ohio.gov/

http://www.ohiohome.org/

http://homeownership.org/government-mortgage-relief-programs/

http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/pages/default.aspx

http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-stability/TARP-Programs/housing/Pages/Program-Documents.aspx

http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-stability/TARP-Programs/housing/Documents/Redacted%208th%20Amendment%20to%20HPA%20-%20Ohio.PDF

http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-stability/TARP-Programs/housing/hhf/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/help-hardest-hit-housing-markets

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr1424

http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-stability/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-help-hardest-hit-housing-markets

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD

http://www.wgrz.com/video/1443505151001/1/President-Obama-on-Landmark-Housing-Settlement-with-Banks